Summer of '98
by gleechild
Summary: A woman meets two little girls, one blonde, one brunette, on a water taxi ride in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. A simple tale of Serena and Blair on vacation in Charm City.


It was going to rain.

Or hopefully just drizzle.

Either way, Mary Davids was in Baltimore's Inner Harbor and had to get to Baltimore's Fell's Point by water taxi. If she couldn't go by water taxi, she was definitely screwed… the parking meter for her car would expire within the hour. So, she was waiting in line for the next taxi to float up to the water's edge.

"Aunt Mary?" asked Mary's sixteen year old neice, Kate, who had travelled with her aunt for a belated birthday celebration. "Those little girls are scaring me." She indicated with her head toward the water's edge.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor was a beautiful place. It was built around the Chesapeake Bay where some war was fought _many_ years ago. Now there stood the Baltimore Aquarium, the Baltimore Science Center, the Convention Center, Pier 6 (where many outdoor concerts under a Pavilion had taken place), the Power Plant Area (which had become a gigantic Barnes and Nobles, also housing a Hard Rock Café, as well as an ESPN Zone, with other local clubs and hangouts surrounding), and the Galleria Mall—which is where Mary and Kate had just come from.

But the one thing about the harbor that was a little disconcerting was that there were no fences or barriers put up to block anyone—like small children—from walking right off the cement walkway into the now troubled waters of the bay. If that weren't enough to keep one away from the water's edge, the fact that the bay had a killer undertow and could easily pull a body underneath that very same cement walkway to their death made everyone very cautious.

And here were two little girls standing extremely close to the edge, which was the cause of Kate's fright. One was crouched down, reaching out over the water, while the other stood back slightly, a little disgusted and confused at the other's actions.

Mary watched the two girls and shrugged. They _were_ overly close, but the thing was… in all of Mary's twenty-eight years, she knew that everyone—even the youngest—seemed to be more in awe of the water than anything. Except for the toddlers who may not understand the peril, everyone from the age of six on up just instinctively knew that one could flirt with the water's edge, but never _ever _jump in.

"They'll be fine," Mary said. Then she laughed. "And in situations that freak me out, where I can see the worst possible thing happen? I will think ahead, prepare myself for what I'd do if it _did_ happen."

She was weird like that.

"Like, what would _you_ do if one of them _did_ fall in?" Mary asked.

Kate just shrugged. She had no idea.

"Well, best case would be, I'd run over, toss out one end of my purse, hold onto the straps and hope the girl doesn't float too far away from the pier so she can grab it before the tow gets her," Mary explained, dangling her purse in front of Kate. It was a simple leather denim blue colored purse with a long strap—the kind that was going very much out of style with all the silly armpit purses she had seen lately. It had been almost impossible to find. Apparently no one wanted a purse with a nice long strap anymore. _Go figure_.

Kate just giggled and nodded, but still kept an eagle eye on those girls.

"Or, worst case, I guess I'm jumping in," Mary said, shrugging again. "Of course, I really, _really,_ wouldn't want to do it, but I'd do it." She'd probably do it for anyone actually. She wasn't the type of person to just stand by. Course, she wasn't the world's strongest swimmer either, but she would think about how to save herself after she saved the other person.

_Okay, Mary, _she thought, _time to stop being dramatic in your own head._

Kate giggled again, and Mary just turned forward. They were still in line for the water taxi and the boat wasn't even in sight yet. The rain was only doing a little dribble here and there, it was doing it's best to hold off.

Mary lost herself in her thoughts for a second, before turning back to look at the little girls. She gasped and straighted up, moving her head around frantically.

"Where'd they go!?" Mary had a brief moment of anxiety.

Kate just laughed. "They're over there now." She pointed to a bench on the other side of the walkway, completely away from the water.

Mary breathed a sigh of relief and laughed at herself.

"It's coming!" Kate pointed out to the water.

_Finally_, Mary thought, relieved.

She still wondered where the children's parents were, but they were safe enough now and she had to get on that boat.

The boat was mostly covered, but had an outside area too. And since so many people were getting onto the boat, Mary just knew that inside would be hell.

Too many people slammed together, she'd either have to stand or get a little too close for comfort with some stranger, plus the inside already looked and _smelled_ like it was going to be humid under there. Her glasses were going to fog up, and it just wasn't something Mary was in the mood for. So she sat down in the little outside area.

No sooner did she sit down than the rain started picking up, the drizzles coming down in slightly larger driblets.

Mary just sighed but smiled. She was wearing black pants, a dark pink top, and a brown hoodie. She pulled the hood up, wrapped her arms around her purse and pulled it against her chest in preparation.

She was going to get _soaked!_

But anything was better than going inside.

Kate couldn't deal with the rain. She was worried it would mess up her hair, so she went inside and found one of those lovely uncomfortable seats in between two strangers.

And then two new passengers came on board—the two little girls from the water's edge.

The first girl, who had long blonde locks with an adorable floppy hat on top of her head, led the other girl to a seat near Mary on the outside.

The blonde plopped down while the brunette looked at her in confusion.

It was obvious the brunette did _not _want to get wet, and was already having a problem with the amount of water hitting her.

"C'mon," the blonde said, pulling the brunette over.

Mary noticed the blonde had a cell phone and was quick to say, "Oh! Make sure you put that away, hon! Don't want it to get wet."

The blonde nodded and put the case back on, putting it back in her little purse.

Mary had a momentary thought—_why would an eight year old need a cell phone?_ But she just shrugged to herself instead.

The porter walked around, checking for stamps on hands—one couldn't ride the water taxi for free (fortunately nine dollars covered all rides for the day). And then the boat took off.

The brunette couldn't take it much more, especially once the rain started coming down in great buckets.

The blonde seemed to love it and just rolled her eyes at the brunette when she got up and scampered undercover quickly inside the boat.

"She misses her Dorota," the blonde said.

Mary was startled that the girl had spoken to her—wasn't the saying "Never Talk to Strangers"? But Mary wasn't going to hurt her, and she had yet to see a parent, so she figured she would indulge the child.

"Dorota?" Mary asked, smiling a reassuring smile.

"Her nanny," she said. "We got stuck with mine and now she's sad. Plus, she _really_ hates getting wet."

"_Oh,_" Mary drummed out, not sure what to say to this little one.

"We're on vacation," she said matter-of-factly. "Mom wanted me to bring a friend so I don't get bored. And Blair's my best friend in the whole world."

"Really," Mary responded. That was the beauty of talking to kids, sometimes you could just use one word responses and they didn't mind. Some kids would rather talk than be talked _to_.

"Uh huh," the blonde nodded.

There was a moment of silence.

"I have a brother," the girl stated proudly, starting another conversation.

"Really?" Mary said again.

"He couldn't come," she said.

"He's too young," she continued in that little girl tone that let you know she was repeating something that an adult had told her.

"Well, that's too bad," Mary said.

"Not really, he would have whined a lot," the girl giggled. "We would have made him play dress up with us."

"I'm sure he would have just _loved_ that," Mary smiled. "So, you're here with your mother?" Mary looked through the window of the doorway and tried to see where little Blair had gone, wondering if she was sitting with the elusive parent keeping track of them.

The girl's smile faltered and she looked down for a moment before looking back up and answering, "Well, mommy made some new friends, so Candace is watching us while she goes out to lunch."

"Candace?" Mary asked.

"My nanny," the girl said before leaning closer and whispering "she's not as good as Dorota."

"I see," Mary whispered back.

The girl sat back suddenly and a strange expression crossed her face as she caught sight of something inside the boat.

The door opened and out walked little Blair fully equipped with umbrella.

The girl was attempting to push it up without getting too wet. She struggled with it, before getting it all the way up.

The good news was that Blair could now remain dry.

The bad news was that Blair was short, whereas the other girl was tall, and the spokes of the umbrella weren't high enough.

And the outside area was quite small.

Mary managed to duck out of the way before getting clobbered or poked.

Blair just kept on going, oblivious to the destruction she nearly left in her wake, walking to the corner the blonde was sitting at.

Mary grabbed the edge of the umbrella before Blair could wack her friend in the face.

"Careful there," Mary murmured.

The girl readjusted before sitting down on the wet seat, wrinkled her nose, and looked at the blonde.

"_Sewena,_" Blair said with the most adorable lisp, in a whining tone.

Mary smiled because the girl had obviously just lost a front tooth and it just made her even more adorable.

"Why muth you be out in the wain?" Blair said.

Mary loved that she tried to speak like an adult.

"It feels good!" Serena exclaimed, smiling up into the pouring rain.

Blair didn't say anything, just gave Serena a disgruntled look.

"You know, my neice and I saw you two by the water earlier and were worried you would fall in," Mary said. "Gave us quite a scare."

Serena just grinned sheepishly. "We were trying to get the water to pop up and hit us to get our hands wet. We were really hot."

Mary remembered how the water lapping against the cement edge sometimes made a little splash. She laughed.

"I don't think you have that problem anymore," Mary responded.

In fact, Mary's hoodie was completely soaked through.

"Nope!" Serena giggled.

Then, as if God turned off the faucet, the rain stopped.

Serena and Mary smiled brightly at each other.

Blair grumbled and moved the umbrella down in front of her, trying to get the contraption to close, almost taking out one of Serena's eyes in the process.

The girl couldn't get it closed.

"Sewena, help me," Blair said, pushing the umbrella toward her friend.

Serena tried, but she couldn't get it down either.

Blair grumbled again and held it toward Mary. "Put this down."

Mary took the umbrella and did as she was told, marveling that the girl hadn't bothered to ask, just commanded.

"Here ya go," Mary said cheerfully, handing it back to the child.

Blair took it and settled back.

"Dis is siwwy," Blair complained to Serena as she shifted in her seat, obviously not happy about having to sit on the wet seat next to her friend.

"This is fun!" Serena giggled.

And Mary could do nothing but agree with this beautiful care-free child who just seemed to enjoy life and the little things that came along.

The water taxi eventually made it to its stop at Fell's Point, and Mary and Kate made it to the car before the meter ran out.

As Mary was driving away, the rain started coming down again and Mary had to smile a little smile for the little Serena who was probably having the time of her life and for the little Blair who was probably, at this moment, about to take someone's eye out.

* * *

The End.

* * *


End file.
